A blog about genealogy and thoughts about the various roots and branches of my family tree as well as the times in which my ancestors lived.Included are the West, White,and McFarland families.WARNING:DO NOT TAKE ALL OF MY FAMILY RECORDS AS GOSPEL. ALWAYS CONFIRM YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

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Sunday, September 30, 2007

I’m sort of delaying heading off to bed even though I’m reallytired but I wanted to post this thought before it vanishes intothe swiss cheese that is my brain while I sleep.

I was following up on Chris Dunham’s comment on the probableidentity of Orpha Reynolds as the daughter of Simeon Reynoldsand Ruhama West. I noticed on the 1850 Oxford County Censusher name is listed as “Ruhannah”. Was the “m” misread as two“n” ‘s by the transcriber or written as such by the census taker?I then googled it to see if the variation popped up elsewhere.

I found the name then as “Ruanna Ames” on an Iowa bboardquery by a descendant.

At any rate, it appears from my initial digging thanks to Chris’post that Simeon Reynolds is connected by marriage to myPackard and Dunham lines.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Her name appears on the 1860 Census of the Town of Upton,County of Oxford, State of Maine at the end of the list of names inJohn Cutter West’s family.

Orpha Reynolds. 18 F. Further over on the line it states she wasborn in Maine.

She is a bit of an enigma in my genealogy research,

There aren’t any other Reynolds listed on the census in Uptonthat year so her family might have been living elsewhere. Perhapsshe was a hired woman who helped Arvilla Ames West run thehousehold, for Arvilla was now fifty years of age and while mostof her children were grown, she still had 9 year old Ruth and 6year old David to care for. Ruth in particular might have beenchallenging; she was listed as an “idiot” on the 1860 census andwould have perhaps needed more supervision. (19th Centuryterminology for intelligence levels differ, I think, from modernassessment. I’ve no way of knowing how mentally impaired Ruthmight have been by today’s standards.)

At any rate, Orpha lived with the West family, one of whom wasthe 26 year old Jonathan Phelps West. I cannot say how or whenthey fell in love since I don’t know of any letters or diaries byeither of them that might shed some light on their courtship.

The couple married on October 20, 1861.

A little over two months later, their marriage would come to anend.

During the year 1861 diphtheria raged throughout the area butup until now it had not touched the West family. Now it struck ithard. It could have come to the family from a guest invited to thewedding who wasn’t as yet displaying the full symptoms of thedisease.

Orpha Viette Reynolds West died on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31st,1861. She was 19 years old.

David Pingree West died on Jan. 17th , 1862

Ruth Ellen West died on Jan. 26th.

16 year old Arvilla Electa West died on Feb. 6th.

Older brother Asa Atwood West lost two of his children to thedisease as well:

8 year old Arvilla died on Feb. 18th.

2 year old Anna Pearl on Feb. 20th.

Another grandchild died in March, but cause of death is not given.

So by Spring of 1862 Jonathan Phelps West had lost a brother,two sisters, two nieces, and his bride Orpha to the epidemic. Andthat Summer he lost his father as John Cutter West passed awayat the age of 59.

I cannot begin to imagine how Jonathan could have coped withsuch losses in so short a time. But he did.

He did what generations of New Englanders before and after himhave done: he survived and got on with life.

Three years later, on Jan.31st, 1865,Jonathan married LouisaAlmata Richardson. They would have four sons, the second ofwhom was my great grandfather Philip Jonathan West.

I of course would not be sitting here typing this had Jonathan notlost his first wife Orpha and later married Louisa. But still Icannot help but feel sympathy for him. I wonder if he ever lookedback at his memories of that October wedding? It took place afterharvest time on a farm, so was wherever it took place decorated tocelebrate both the wedding and Harvest?

Did Jonathan revisit that memory with a smile or did theknowledge of what came after make it too painful?

And did he ever wonder what life might have been like if he hadnot lost his Orpha?

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

#14 -Distress Signal. IF you become lost in the stacks of a majorgenealogical library, DO NOT PANIC! Use your flutaphoneto summon help by blowing as hard as you can on throughthe mouthpiece. A series of the highest and most shrill noteswill be most efficacious and a friendly librarian will arrive to

I have found approximately forty images at Footnotes.comin the Revolutionary War Pension Files of correspondencebetween Mrs. Jessie Hale Tuttle and Pension Department.The earliest request is in 1915 and the latest so far is from1928, but there is still 21 percent of the pension Files yet to bescanned and no doubt there are more letters I haven't seen.

Over that period Jessie’s address changed several times, and fora short period it seems she either owned a typewriter or hadaccess to one but the majority of her correspondence washandwritten. I will be blogging more in the future about Jessieand her dealings with the Pension Department, but there aretwo items I discovered that I’ll mention now.

Sometime in the mid 1920’s Jessie must have decided to put herexpertise in family research to good use and a printed letterheadof:

“Mrs. Jessie Hale TuttleGenealogist and Researcher”

appears at the top of the handwritten first page of a letter aboutBenjamin Fuller. The original address under her name is scratchedout and her new address handwritten next to it. In another letterconcerning her request for information on Bela Graves shestates that the information was “needed for a D.A.R. paper”. (Theoriginal request had not been answered as yet.)

So, perhaps Jessie’s original research into Moses Barrows was forproof of descent from a Revolutionary War Veteran in order forher to join the Daughters of the American Revolution and thateventually led to her becoming a professional genealogist?

Whether that was actually the case or not, I do think the lettersshow Jessie to be a bright, literate woman with a no nonsenseapproach. She is indicative of the way American women andsociety were changing at the start of the Twentieth Century.And I found the glimpse into how research into the PensionFiles was done a century ago fascinating.

As I said, I’ll be blogging more about Jessie’s correspondencebut for the moment I’m going to turn my attention back to myown ancestors.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

It seems to be a quiet day in many of the genealogy blogs I readmost often so after watching the Patriots game I started to dl thethe Revolutionary War Pension File for my ancestor AmosHastings from Footnotes.com. Last night I downloaded those ofJesse Barker, the brother of my ancestor Jonathan Barker, whichis much smaller than his other brother Benjamin’s and theHastings file as well.

So far I’ve found Pension Files for seven ancestors at Footnotesand the service records and rolls for some of them. It’s a windfallof information for me and along with the Jesse Tuttle story theyshould provide me with plenty of blogging material.

But I do want to get my files here more organized, so I ordered acopy of Elizabeth Shown Mill’s book Evidence: Citation & Analysisfor the Family Historian so I can get more of a handleon all the material I have found lately.

And I still need to come up with another thirty or so genealogicaluses for the fluteaphone!

In both there are 21 pages at 15 cents page making 3.15..I do not care for certified copies.Very truly yoursJessie H. Tuttle"

Jessie emphatically underlined "certified".

Written above Jessie’s address in another’s handwriting is:

“Check for $3.15 rec’d--(three initials that I cannot decipher).

And a few days later came the typewritten reply:

“Rev. War Section

Feb.27,1917Jessie H. Tuttle4650 Fremont Ave, SouthMinneapolis, Minn.Madam:In reply to your letter of the 17th instant, herewithare enclosed copies of eleven pages from the RevolutionaryWar pension claim of Lemuel and Catharine Stimson. Mass.W.7222, and of ten pages from the Revolutionary War pensionclaim of Elizabeth widow of Moses Barrows, Mass. W. 18,560,said uncertified Photostat copies are furnished to you under theprovisions of the act of August 21,1912.Very respectfuly,G.M. SaltzgaberCommisioner"

I had to smile at the underlined “certified” in Jessie’s request.She might have been living in Minnesota but she had Yankeefrugality. She was getting copies of government files from agovernment agency mailed no doubt with an official stamp in agovernment envelope. Why spend extra money for certificationof something so patently obvious ?

So that concluded Jessie’s mail in the Moses Barrows’ file. A fewyears later she sought information about his brother Asa,perhaps having only just then learned of Asa’s existence. I wascertain Jessie must have been related to the Barrows family andas Janice Brown of Cow Hampshire kindly proved in hercomments to part 1 of this series of post, Jessie's genealogyshows she was indeed descended from Moses and so a distantcousin of mine.

I decided to see if Jessie made any other inquiries from thePension Dept.

Monday, September 17, 2007

One of the cool things about the Revolutionary War Pension Filesfrom the National Archives at Footnote.com is the glimpses youcatch either of people’s lives or of how things were done back inearlier times, such as how far genealogy research has come.

Here is another exchange between Jessie Tuttle andCommisioner G.M. Saltzgaber:

There is a round U. S. Pension Office postmark of May 31, 1916By this time Jessie must have been noticed by the clerks of thePension Dept. Image 51 of the file seems to be some sort of inneroffice memo about this request:

“Moses Barrows, Born in Mass. where he lived until after theRevolutionary war. Presumably in a Mass. Regt. Died in IrasburgVt. His wife Elizabeth is said to have drawn a pension. It is notknown whether he did. Mrs. Barrows also died in Irasburg, Vt.

Lebbeus Hammand, said to have been in troops of the Conn. line.The Company was raised, however in Westmoreland Co. Penn(Wyoming) He is spoken of as the “famous Indian scout.” Escapedfrom the massacre of Ft. Wyoming in 1778. Drew penson. Died inTioga Co. N.Y.

Lemuel Stimson, of Weston Mass. Seems to have been at BunkerHill with Col. Gardner who was killed there.

I do not know precisely what is wanted but, but presumably theservice. I suppose also the lady thinks that there will be a fullhistory of the soldier’s experience. If the record should showanything more than the bare service any particulars would ofcourse be thankfully received. I imagine that it will be prettydifficult to verify the service.

Madam:In reply to your letter of the 29th instant, you are advised thatunder the Act of August 24, 1918, a charge of 15 cents is made for each sheet photographed, with 25 cents additional for certification if that is desired. If a certified copy be ordered it will be necessary to place on the certificate a ten cent internal revenue documentary stamp. Each stamp should be forwarded and not included in the remittance.

The proper amount should be forwarded by certified check,draft, money order or cashier’s check.In the pension claim, Lemuel Stimson, Widow File 7222,Revolutionary War, there are eleven sheets to be copied, thecost would be 1.65 uncertified, or $1.90 certified and a stamp asdescribed above.

In the pension claim, Moses Barrows, Widow File 18560, Rev-olutionary War, there are ten sheets to be copied, the costwould be $1.50 uncertified or $ 1.75 certified and a stamp also.Very respectfully,G.M. SaltzgaberCommissioner "

Friday, September 14, 2007

The BBC genealogy television show “Who Do You Think YouAre?” recently visited the Hazen Garrison House in Haverhill,Ma. to shoot footage for an upcoming show. They wouldn’t saywhich celebrity’s roots might cause a visit to a 300 year oldhome in New England.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

A few months after obtaining the Revolutionary Pension Files ofmy ancestors Asa Barrows and John Ames from Footnote.comduring a free trial membership, I took out a monthly subscriptionand started searching for files of other ancestors and theirsiblings.

One of the first I found was the file of Asa’s brother, Moses. Andthere again I encountered Mrs. Jessie H. Tuttle. Notice that thecorrespondence took place some years before her inquiry onAsa.

“4650 Fremont Ave So.Minneapolis, Minn.Sept.4th 1915

Commissioner of PensionsDear Sir:-Will you kindly give me the date of the death of Elizabeth ColbyBarrows who was pensioned as the widow of Moses Barrows who enlisted in the Rev. from Plympton, Mass. She probably died in Irasburg, Vt.Will you also please tell if it plainly states in Moses Barrowspension record that he died Jan 10, 1823.? If we prove this dateto be wrong, can it be changed in the records?”

I noticed that Jessie didn’t sign her note.

So did the official who sent her a reply:

“Name Unknown,4650 Fremont Ave, So.Minneapolis, Minn.Madam:In response to your unsigned letter dated the 4th instant, youare advised that in her declaration for pension, signed andsworn before the Judge of the Court of Orleans County,Vermont, October 20th, 1838, Elizabeth Barrows testified thather husband died ‘on the tenth day of January A.D. 1823' andthat this Bureau has no authority to change it.

For the date and place of the widow’s death and the name ofthe person to whom the arrears of her pension were paid,application should be made to the Auditor for the InteriorDepartment, U.S. Treasury Department, giving him all of thefollowing data:

“Elizabeth Barrows widow of Moses Barrows, Certificate No.1513, issued August 26, 1848, for $80. per annum from March4, 1848 under the Act of February 2, 1848, at the Poultney,Vermont Agency”.

Very Respectfully,G.M. SaltzgaberCommissioner.”

If this was not the first encounter between Mr. Saltzgaber andMrs, Tuttle, then it was certainly one among many.And she wasn’t done with Moses Barrows yet.

I’m going to post the transcriptions of the Barrowsbrothers soon as well as eventually those of AmosHastings and the Barker brothers, although I mayhold off on my direct ancestor Jonathan Barker’sbrother Benjamin, whose Revolutionary War PensionFile has 85 images!

But before that, let me introduce you to Mrs.Jessie H. Tuttle.

On image 2 of Asa Barrow’s file is the notation,written vertically along the inner edge of a notebookpage “Hist. to Jessie H. Tuttle.

I wondered who that might be, and discovered moreon images 9 and 11. For some reason the order ofthe correspondence is reversed, so I’ve put themback in the right order for clarification here.

A round stamp to the bottom left of Jessie’s signatureshows that her request was received at the PensionOffice on Aug 3 1923

Image 9 is the typewritten reply to Jessie Tuttle’s request:

Image 9 is the typewritten reply to Jessie Tuttle’s request:“Rev. War Section”September 18, 1923.Jessie H. Tuttle,3730 Grand Ave.Minneapolis, Minn.“Madam;I have to advise you that from the papers inthe Revolutionary War pension claim, S. 16038,itappears that Asa Barrows, while living in Plymton,Plymouth County, Massachusetts, enlisted April 1775,and served as a private eight months in CaptainJoshua Benson’s company, Colonel Cotton’s regiment,Massachusetts troops.He enlisted December 1776 and served six weeksunder Lieutenant Joshua Perkins. The last of July1780, he enlisted and serve two weeks under CaptainPerez ChurchillHe was allowed pension on his application exe-cuted August 28, 1832, while a resident of Hamlin’sGrove, Oxford County, Maine, aged eighty one years.There is no data on file as to his family.Respectfully,

Commissioner.”

The letter is unsigned. A carbon copy, perhaps?

I wondered what relationship Mrs. Tuttle might have toAsa Barrows. Was she a relative, or researching the Barrowsfamily for some other purpose?

I wondered briefly and then set the matter aside for now.Then I downloaded the records of Moses Barrows, Asa’sbrother, and once more encountered the redoubtableJessie Tuttle.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Another hour or so this morning at my kb with the mandatorycup of coffee as I browse the genealogy blogs.

The A*******.com debate continues with posts at DickEastman’s blog and Craig Manson’s careful examination of thelegal issues involved at his site. One thing I must comment on isthat while I don’t agree with Dick’s point of view, I do feel he hashandled some of the less than civil commentary with grace andstyle.

Several of his commenters let their anger get the better ofthemselves and it added nothing useful to the debate, nor isDick deserving of ad hominem attacks.

I did notice at the WorldVitalRecords Blog something that maybe at offshoot of the controversy. In an invitation to genealogiststo upload their gedcom files to their FamilyLink.com site, theyadded this:

“Important: Your family tree is YOUR data. You can remove it at any time, limit who can see it, collaborate with others and grow it together, and share it with whomever you choose. We will never charge others to search and access YOUR data.”

Now I don’t know if they’ve posted that before, but in light ofrecent events it certainly caught my attention today.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Astute readers will note that my first entry in this list was fornumbers 1 to 5 and I’m suddenly at number 9.

That’s because Janice and Apple took pity on a befuddled oldman and contributed 6,7, and 8 in comments.

If anyone else is likewise moved to such kindness, feel free tosend your use for a flutaphone right along!

9. Flower holder- for when you visit the ancestral grave. Sticksharp pointy mouthpiece into the ground and your flowers intothe other end of the flutaphone.

10. Bookmark-When you have to leave your chair for a momentto ask the librarian to find you another genealogy book inthe stacks.NOTE- DO NOT LET THE LIBRARIAN SEE YOU DOTHIS!!

11. Bookfetcher- That particular tome on a shelf you can’t quitereach? Using the pointy mouthpiece end, gently rock the bookloose and down.

12. Bookcatcher- See above. Quickly reverse the flutaphone tocatch the falling book on the wide-ended mouth. If thelibrarian notices, tell her you are practicing balancing thebooks.

13. Eartrumpet- For when a librarian starts yelling. Insertnarrow end in ear after REMOVING the pointy mouthpiece.Remember, catch any books before they hit the floor if youwere performing uses numbers 11 and/or 12 when thelibrarian started yelling. Turn wide end towards librarianand say “Eh?”

For some esoteric reason, my spellchecker wants to changeflutaphone to glutathione.

footnoteMaven has given me a “Nice Matters” awardfor which I thank her and which I shall proudly display.It was created by Genevieve Olsen of Bella Enchanted

The only trouble I have is coming up with others to give theaward to, though. Not that I can’t think of anyone nice, justthat there are so many, and then the ones I think of firsthave already gotten the award.

Luckily, I’m able to give one to Tim Abbott for his thoughtfulwriting on the environment and history as well as for runninghis Family Archive Photo Caption Contest. He was the first ofmy distant cousins I’ve discovered online and is a gentlemanand a scholar.

The records I’ve found at Footnote.com will keep me busy forsome time. My direct ancestor Jonathan Barker’s pension file isonly thirteen pages long but his brother Benjamin’s is fifty andthere are the Revolutionary War Rolls and Service Records aswell. The Pension File for Amos Hastings, another ancestor, isthirty pages.

And I going to post it all here, or the transcriptions that is, toshare with my readers.